Leicester Socialist Party and the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) attended an emergency branch meeting for workers from Tulip, a food processing plant in Coalville. The members present on 24 September voted unanimously to ballot for industrial action due to a series of abuses by their employers.

NSSN lobby of TUC 10 September: This summer has seen a wave of strikes. Now we need determined coordinated action across the public sector to smash the pay cap and fight for a £10 an hour minimum wage for all

For the first time in the eight years that I have been a representative and activist with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), there is a Labour leader who is unapologetic in his support of trade unionism, writes Carl Harper, CWU shop steward (personal capacity).

A lively all-day public meeting saw 'Blackpool deserves better' launched on 13 May. The meeting was organised by Blackpool trade union council and the BFAWU bakers' union around an anti-austerity theme after seeing the town devastated by cuts and racked by zero-hour contracts and low pay.

Train strikes brought large parts of the country to a standstill on 8 April. Train guards in the RMT union struck against driver-only operation (DOO) on Merseyrail which affected the Grand National horse race, on Northern Rail and again on Southern Rail, days before the franchise's boss doubled his pay.

Northern Rail train guards have voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of strike action against the introduction of driver-only operation (DOO). Our first strike date is 13 March and is planned to coincide with our striking brothers and sisters on Southern and Merseyrail.

Ford workers' warnings of a rundown of the Bridgend plant have unfortunately proved correct. Ford has leaked documents indicating the rundown of the plant over the next four years. The document projects the loss of 1,160 workers.